How So?
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: "He's weird." ... "How so?"


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A/N: Yes, "Glassy Blue" is on HIATUS. I hate myself for doing it because I really want to get it done, but I can't help it. I gotta work on my fight scenes before I screw up the whole thing by messing up somewhere. So for now, I do one-shots. This one involves Cesar. Suddenly, he makes me wanna watch this show more…

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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**How So?**

"So what do you think of Cesar?" asked Holiday as she attached a probe to Rex's chest right near where his heart was.

Rex was quiet for once, which was a shock to Holiday. Half the time, she couldn't get him to shut up, but at this moment, he seemed to actually consider his words.

"He's weird."

Holiday had hardly expected a serious answer, but when she looked to the Mexican boy's face, she saw that he was completely serious. The woman attached another probe carefully to his forehead before standing back a bit to be sure that she got all the patches she needed on him. "How so?"

The teenager's mahogany eyes followed the doctor as she stepped back. "He's just not exactly right in the head sometimes. It's like he's not all there. He may be smart when it comes to nanites, but now that it's five years later, will he really be as smart with them?"

The woman was about to insert her own comments when Rex kept talking. This was the boy she knew. Now that he was still talking, she recognized the boy she had practically raised once more.

"He's fine, and he's nice and all, but really? Five years later and he wants to check on a nanite?" The EVO boy was clearly upset, his eyes distant even as he looked at Holiday who was scarcely seven feet in front of him. "I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'."

Again, Holiday was going to say something, but Rex's voice cut her off. "And I'm not sure why he felt compelled to jump into _my_ battlefield when _I_ was at work. He's a scientist, not a hero. I mean, _you_ can be both, Doc, but he's one or the other." His arms were behind him, supporting his weight with the way he sat, feet hanging over the edge of the table that he usually sat on.

The doctor smiled slightly.

Rex continued. "Then back to me saying that he's looking for a nanite instead of his own brother. Now if you were him, Holiday, would you come looking for me first, or a nanite?" His eyes were watching her, obviously eager for an answer.

Holiday knew how he wanted her to answer, but she also knew the truth that was her true answer. "If the explosion put your life in immediate danger, I would be looking for you first and foremost. The nanite would come second. But if I knew you were safe and out of harm's way, I would search for the nanite."

A thin smirk crept across Rex's ever-playful face. "Good answer, Doc."

And she just kept on smiling, knowing that he had heard almost exactly what he had wanted to hear. Holiday wasn't stupid. She knew what he had wanted, and she had given it to him. Simple as that.

"But not Cesar." Rex's features were once more swallowed by solemnity. "_He _had to go check on the Omega-1 nanite, not me. You know, I would come looking for him first if it had been me!"

"Rex, don't get too worked up over it," said Holiday, turning to the line of computers behind her so that she could check his charts and biometrics. "He's still your family, you know. You should be grateful that he's still alive."

"I am," said Rex, now enthusiastic. "I love knowing that I have a brother. I mean, I've always wanted a brother. I don't get to throw footballs around in here, no one plays soccer with me. I only have Noah and, don't get me wrong, I love the guy like a brother, but he's not my real brother. He's my best friend, and I'm cool with that, but he's not my legit brother."

Holiday was still listening, but her gaze was trapped on the statistics that were now rolling across the screen before her eyes. They were all normal, nothing was wrong with the teenager that sat on the table behind her.

"Cesar is great. He's awesome. He's super cool. Did you see the thing he did with the splitting EVO? That's was amazing!" Rex was now excited, eyes flitting around instead of resting on Holiday. Normally, he would be staring at her butt in the few moments that her back was turned to him. "He's almost exactly the brother I wanted, except for he's like, what, twenty? I mean, we're only a few years apart, but he's still kind of older. I have a feeling he'll be more like you and Six are to me than he will be Noah, you know?"

The woman was about to tell him that she didn't know when he continued to speak.

Rex was now watching the ceiling, practically daydreaming of all the things he could do with his older brother. "And think about it: he can take me out of the Keep now and he can join us fighting with weapons like all the other agents do and he can train and it'll be so much fun! Finally, someone that I can talk to about everything."

"You should be able to talk to Noah about everything. And we kind of left Bobo out of his cage to be your friend, Rex. Are you completely forgetting about Bobo?" Holiday glanced over her shoulder. This time, she didn't see his eyes immediately snapping away from her butt. This time, she saw his eyes automatically snapping to meet hers with a certain seriousness in them.

"I love my chimp. He's an awesome chimp. I love Bobo. But he's not my brother, now is he?"

"Blood doesn't mean everything," reminded Holiday, looking back to her work. Her fingers were tapping away on the keyboards as more charts and scales and records ran past her vision on the glowing screens. "Six told me that you consider us more of your family than Cesar."

"That's only 'cause he's weird. And Noah is like my family too. He's like a brother. I love him. He's awesome, but he's not Cesar. And he's not Mexican. Come to think of it, am I like the only Mexican in this building?" Rex suddenly had to recall all the other agents. Were any of them Mexican?

The doctor rolled her eyes. "Rex, just remember that we still don't know everything about Cesar yet. He could have more ties to Van Kleiss than we know of." She continued working for a few more moments. "White Knight is being careful about fully accepting him into Providence. Don't get your hopes up about him staying. He may want to move his work again and Providence isn't exactly mobile about everything."

"Doc," said Rex, shaking his head, "Cesar is as good as anyone in this building. He's probably as good as Knight. He was part of the original event. That's enough to tie him to Providence for a lifetime. Look at me! I was linked to the event and I stayed!"

"Most of the time." Again, Holiday looked over her shoulder to see Rex watching her eyes as she gave him a teasing glare. "You do have that habit of sneaking out and running away," pointed out the woman in the white lab coat.

"Oh pfft." Rex waved one hand in the air, shooing away that point in the conversation. "Cesar's awesome, that's all there is to it." He was now just waiting to get out of his scans so that he could go find his brother. "We almost done here?"

Holiday finished watching the biometrics that she was getting from him and turned around, leaning against the panel of keyboards and computers. "Yes, Rex, we're done. Take-"

Rex was already ripping off all the cords and wires that were attached to his body and put them off to one side of the table that he was perched upon. He jumped up and grabbed his shirt and then his jacket, pulling one over his head before slipping into the other. He snatched his gloves out of his pockets and put them on while saying, "Thanks, Doc!" Then he bolted out of the room, jacket flapping behind him almost like a cape before he disappeared from the room behind the sliding doors.

The doctor shook her head. What would she ever do with that boy?

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**A/N: I kind of liked this one. I still like "Thoughts" better because it was a bit more angsty almost. But this was good, I think. Reviews are appreciated!**

**~Sky**


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